Cuba, back to OAS?

[Der-Lowe]

OAS revokes 47-year-old suspension of Cuba

By Arthur Brice
CNN

(CNN) -- Latin American nations overwhelmingly rejected nearly 50 years of U.S. policy toward Cuba on Wednesday, voting at a meeting of the Organization of American States in Honduras to revoke the communist nation's 1962 suspension from the multinational group.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was "pleased" with the outcome, which came on a voice vote with no opposition.

"The member nations of the OAS showed flexibility and openness today, and as a result we reached a consensus that focuses on the future instead of the past: Cuba can come back into the OAS in the future if the OAS decides that its participation meets the purposes and principles of the organization, including democracy and human rights," Clinton said in a written statement.

However, the decision faced opposition in the US congress:

"Today we witnessed an example of the Obama administration's absolute diplomatic incompetence and its unrestricted appeasement of the enemies of the United States," Cuban-American U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Florida, and Mario Diaz-Balart R-Florida, said in a joint statement. "The OAS is a putrid embarrassment."
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I think it is a decisive move if the US wants to improve its relations with Latin America. I don't really think Cuba will accept to rejoin the OAS, since it won't radically change its internal organization to enter a group, which, we must confess, isn't very relevant. It'll probably say that the OAS is an evil capitalist tool, etc etc.
However, I believe we're on the path of lifting the embargo on Cuba, and who knows what more? FTA with Cuba? =o

Discuss.

[Tancrisism]

I wouldn't say it's deception by the US, as this seems to have been more run by the rest of Latin America. I hope it goes through though.

[Ericho]

Me too. In terrible economic times like this, we need some peace or anything nice.

[Der-Lowe]

At 6/4/09 11:20 AM, Tancrisism wrote: I wouldn't say it's deception by the US, as this seems to have been more run by the rest of Latin America. I hope it goes through though.

Cuba has rejected the offer, because it thinks the OAS is a decadent organization with no reason to be, or sth of the sort. It's merely a sign of good will by the US, but the main issue is the trade embargo. However, the US won't accept lifting the embargo unless Cuba returns to democracy, which seems to be quite unlikely.
So things will remain the same, at least until Cuba decides otherwise.

[Ericho]

At 6/5/09 04:52 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: So things will remain the same, at least until Cuba decides otherwise.

What a pity. At least they don't have nukes, or at least they're not using their nukes to threaten us.

[Tancrisism]

At 6/5/09 04:52 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: However, the US won't accept lifting the embargo unless Cuba returns to democracy, which seems to be quite unlikely.

I really hope that Obama sees through this double-standard. Otherwise we should embargo China and Saudi Arabia, too.

[Der-Lowe]

At 6/6/09 10:54 AM, Ericho wrote:

At 6/5/09 04:52 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: So things will remain the same, at least until Cuba decides otherwise.

What a pity. At least they don't have nukes, or at least they're not using their nukes to threaten us.

Cuba is far from developing a nuclear capacity. The only ones that could develop the Bomb in Latin America are Argentina and Brazil, since they have developed nuclear power for peaceful ends.

At 6/6/09 10:58 AM, Tancrisism wrote:

At 6/5/09 04:52 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: However, the US won't accept lifting the embargo unless Cuba returns to democracy, which seems to be quite unlikely.

I really hope that Obama sees through this double-standard. Otherwise we should embargo China and Saudi Arabia, too.

Well, honestly, China is too important as to impose and ideological barrier, everybody trades with China and ignores its lack of democracy and civil rights violations. One could say that China will be a democracy in the future, ie, it is getting democratic, as a consequence of the creation of a middle class.

[Ericho]

At 6/6/09 09:39 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: Cuba is far from developing a nuclear capacity. The only ones that could develop the Bomb in Latin America are Argentina and Brazil, since they have developed nuclear power for peaceful ends.

Oh, so the Cuban Missile Crisis was just for nukes made by Russia and Cuba didn't actually make of them themselves or strike a deal with Russia to use them?

[Tancrisism]

At 6/6/09 09:39 PM, Der-Lowe wrote: Well, honestly, China is too important as to impose and ideological barrier, everybody trades with China and ignores its lack of democracy and civil rights violations. One could say that China will be a democracy in the future, ie, it is getting democratic, as a consequence of the creation of a middle class.

This is obvious and hardly worth stating. It is still a double-standard, though, to claim that you don't trade with totalitarian regimes and then trade with only the most powerful totalitarian regimes.

[Saruman200]

Why not? The OAS has housed plenty of other dictatorships, such as Augusto Pinochet's in Chile or Jorge Rafael Videla's in Argentina, why not Cuba. On the greater topic of US policy towards Cuba, we trade will plenty of totalitarian regimes like China, Cuba is no different.